The Roots of Atherosclerosis: Early-Life Stress as a Predictor of Vascular Aging

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Summary of  Health Psychology https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001602  
Dr. Reid, B. M., Cantave  et al.

Points

Researchers evaluated nearly two hundred young people to determine if extreme stress experienced before age five correlates with worsened cardiovascular health and arterial stiffening during their adolescent and early adult years.
The study compared children adopted from international orphanages to peers raised in affluent homes to isolate the physiological impact of early neglect from later socioeconomic and nutritional environmental factors.
Results demonstrated that previously institutionalized youth had significantly higher levels of inflammation and arterial stiffness which are biomarkers usually found in middle-aged adults rather than in healthy teenagers or children.
DEXA scans revealed that those who suffered extreme early adversity possessed higher levels of visceral fat around abdominal organs which increases the long-term risk for atherosclerosis and Type 2 diabetes.
These findings suggest that early-life adversity programs the body to shunt resources toward survival instead of healthy growth which creates permanent metabolic changes that require earlier intervention by medical professionals.

Summary

This study evaluated the impact of early-life adversity (ELA) on long-term cardiometabolic health in a cohort of 190 youth aged 12–21. The research compared previously institutionalized (PI) individuals, who were adopted from international orphanages at an average age of 16 months, to a control group of birth-reared (BR) youth from similar high-resource socioeconomic backgrounds. By isolating ELA to the first five years of life, the study sought to determine if transient early stress induces persistent physiological changes that remain measurable over a decade after relocation to a protective environment.

In-person examinations utilized fasted blood draws, vascular biomarker assessments, and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans to quantify systemic health. PI adolescents exhibited significantly higher aortic augmentation index (AIx) values, indicating premature arterial stiffening typically observed in middle-aged populations, and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Furthermore, the PI group demonstrated lower low-frequency to high-frequency (LF/HF) heart rate variability ratios, suggesting autonomic dysregulation. Post hoc analyses revealed a significant sex-based interaction for pulse wave velocity (PWV), where PI girls showed significantly higher arterial stiffness compared to BR peers.

The findings suggest that extreme early-life stress, including neglect and nutritional insecurity, creates a “neurodevelopmental scaffolding” that prioritizes immediate survival over long-term metabolic health. Despite years of subsequent socioeconomic stability, the PI cohort displayed higher trunk tissue fat and altered cortisol responses to stressors. These results underscore the existence of a sensitive developmental window before age 5 where adversity can program a trajectory toward premature atherosclerosis and Type 2 diabetes. The research highlights the necessity for physicians to consider ELA history when assessing cardiometabolic risk in seemingly healthy adolescents and young adults.

Link to the article: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fhea0001602

References

Reid, B. M., Cantave, C., Zhong, D., Donzella, B., Kelly, A. S., Dengel, D. R., & Gunnar, M. R. (2026). Early-life adversity before age 5 is associated with reduced cardiometabolic health characterized by increased arterial stiffness and inflammation in adolescence. Health Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001602